With exhibits ranging from suits of armor to Victorian evening gowns, from mighty carved poles to massive dinosaurs, Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum — known locally as the ROM — is the largest international museum in Canada, with exhibits spanning human and natural history throughout the ages and the world. The ROM is one of the few museums in the world that combines art, archaeology and science in one building. Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors enjoy the ROM’s galleries, changing exhibitions and extensive programs of tours, films, lectures, courses and workshops.

The Royal Ontario Museum was created in 1912, by the signing of the ROM Act in the Ontario Legislature on April 16. The ROM opened its doors to the public on March 19, 1914, operating as five separate museums devoted to archaeology, geology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology until 1955. In 1978, a $55 million renovation was undertaken to provide for the ROM’s greatly expanding research and collections. In 1987, The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, the first specialized museum of ceramics in North America, became associated with the ROM.

Highlights of the ROM’s collection include the Ancient Egypt Gallery, with its impressive displays of Egyptian jewelry, sculpture, mummy coffins and masks; the Canadian Heritage Floor, showcasing 12,000 years of the arts of indigenous people and the world’s premier collection of early Canadian decorative arts and historical paintings; and the Samuel European Galleries, which feature costumes, furniture and elaborate period room settings.

The Dynamic Earth: Inco Limited Gallery of Earth Sciences, an interactive display of the powerful forces that shape our Earth, includes the award-winning S.R. Perren Gem and Gold Room, home to he ROM’s most dazzling gems and gold specimens. Favorites with families include the Dinosaurs Gallery, with its 13 dinosaur skeletons displayed in realistic environments, and the dark, winding Bat Cave, a replica of a subterranean bat cave complete with 3,000 life-like “bats” roosting and flying through the air.

Korean Art

North America’s largest permanent gallery dedicated to Korean art and culture opened at ROM in September, 1999. The Gallery of Korean Art spans 8,000 years of Korean history and cultural achievements from the Neolithic Period to modern times. The Gallery weaves together a stunning range of works that reflect the remarkable legacy of Korea’s history and philosophy with approximately 200 exceptional works of fine art and objects that show notable technological accomplishments.

Chinese Collection

The impressive Chinese collection at ROM ranks among the finest in the world outside China. The collection includes displays of enormous Chinese wall paintings, 14 monumental Buddhist sculptures dating from the 12th to the 16th centuries AD, rare jades, figures of warriors and mythical beasts, weapons and oracle bones used by diviners to predict the future.

Discovery Gallery

The ROM’s Discovery Gallery is a hands-on mini-museum filled with objects from the Museum’s vast natural history, art and archaeology collections. Visitors can touch and examine a wide variety of authentic museum objects, from rare seashells and fossils, to armor and Chinese textiles. Research tools such as microscopes and an ultraviolet lamp encourage self-directed exploration. Gallery facilitators are available at all times to assist visitors.

Hands-On Biodiversity

This permanent exhibition allows visitors a unique interactive experience in which they can encounter the rich variety of life on earth. Gallery visitors have the opportunity to view the complex infrastructure of a household composter, examine a real beehive and a living stream using current technology or take a field trip to Canada’s lake and cottage regions without ever leaving the Museum.

Asian Sculpture Gallery

This gallery displays objects from the Royal Ontario Museum’s Asian sculpture collections. The gallery opens with an exhibition of South and East Asian religious sculpture, primarily Buddhist works dating between the 2nd and 12th centuries AD.
Hours: Monday - Thursday, Saturday 10 AM - 6 PM, Fridays 10 AM - 9:30 PM, Sundays 11 AM - 6 PM, closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day

Admission: $15 for adults, $10 for seniors & students with ID, $8 for children (ages 5-14), free to members and children ages 4 & under.
Prices in Canadian funds. Prices subject to change.

Location: The Royal Ontario Museum is located on Queen’s Park Crescent, near the corner of Bloor Street and Avenue Road, in Toronto. Arriving by subway, the Museum is located at the “Museum” stop on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line. It can also be reached by taking Avenue Bus #5 south from the Eglinton Subway Station.
For tickets/information, call: 416-586-8000
Hours to call: 24-hour information line

Visit their Web site at: http://www.rom.on.ca/